Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences

by Rigil Kent

Rated: PG … mild language, Character Death
Disclaimer: Suing is illogical. TATV is illogical. I am illogical.
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst
Summary: A “what if?” scenario for the episode Observer Effect: the “what if?” being “what if it had been Archer and T’Pol who’d been infected by the silicon-based virus instead of Tucker and Sato?”

Author's Note:
Just like CJ Sitter's “Observer Effect Revisted”, this was written in reply to a “what if” scenario at a board that I visit regularly (I think I was the one who originally proposed this whacky scenario in the first place). Unfortunately, this particularly twisted scenario wouldn't leave me alone so ...

Major Character Death Ahead...

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

He couldn't believe his ears.

Standing silently in Sickbay, Trip Tucker stared at the face of his best friend and onetime lover, now inhabited by an incorporeal alien that he could barely comprehend. A glance to his right revealed Captain Archer equally upright but bearing a look of hostility on his face that Trip had never seen before. None of this made any sense.

But then, he reflected, nothing had made sense for a long time now. With both Archer and T'Pol overcome by the silicate virus, Tucker had been forced to face the fact that they would die. Phlox had seemed out of miracles but, to the doctor's credit, had refused to even consider giving up. In the end, though, it hadn't been enough.

Ironically, it had been T'Pol who seemed to succumb more quickly to the virus and, even now, Trip could remember her feverish cries in her native tongue. He had been visiting them once more, peering through the small viewport into the decontamination chamber while hoping he could give them some new reason to struggle on. His Vulcan was limited to the usual phrases of "hello" and "where is the restroom", but Tucker had recognized his own name in T'Pol's fevered cries and, after seeing Hoshi's almost pitying look toward him as she passed by, he had decided he didn't want to know what the Vulcan was saying.

It would probably hurt too much.

"What did you say?" he finally managed. The Organian wearing Archer's body almost sneered as it replied.

"I am loath to repeat myself, Commander Tucker." It paused briefly, giving the alien within T'Pol's body a flat look that caused her - it! - to lower her head as if rebuked. "Your compassion has moved Us and we are willing to return one of your companions to life, but the choice must be yours." Trip blinked, as hope swelled up within him again.

"If you can return one," he exclaimed, "then you can heal both of them!" Anger suddenly washed away the hope, and he glared at these creatures. How dare they play God like this? What gave them the right?

"We cannot violate our laws, Commander," the Organian wearing Jon's body declared, crossing his - its! - arms and frowning. "Doing this already exceeds our mandate of observation." Trip's mind whirred and words tumbled from his lips before he realized it.

"Can you exchange my life for the other one?" A flicker of surprise appeared on the Organian wearing T'Pol's body and she - no, it! - looked to the one wearing Jon's face. The faux-Archer was shaking his head.

"No."

Grief abruptly gripped Tucker's heart, and he swallowed the sob that wanted to overwhelm him. How could he make a decision like this? How could he decide who lived and who died? Especially now, when all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and die himself. A ball of anguish and regret seemed to swirl within his stomach and he again looked away, hoping to find some way out of this mess. It just wasn't fair. Not now, with everything between him and T'Pol as confused as it was. Not now, with his friendship with Jon as strained as it was.

Not now...

"My patience is not unlimited, Commander," the faux-Archer declared, once more wearing an almost sneer. Closing his eyes, Trip sought control over the raging emotions that pounded through his soul. It was as if there was a gaping sense of emptiness where he heart was supposed to be and, without entirely understanding it, he knew that it was related to T'Pol. Exactly when she had become the central element in his life he couldn't exactly say, but the very idea of losing her again lanced through him with excruciating pain. Watching her give herself to Koss in marriage to save her mother had been hard enough, but this? He opened his mouth to say her name, knowing that a future without T'Pol was a future that he didn't want to face.

The future.

At once, memories of the various interactions with the time agent Daniels hit him and he hesitated. How many times had the mysterious time traveler relayed how important Jon was? How Archer was meant to be the architect for a brighter future? Was it fair to put the wants and desires of a single man over the needs of the future? Unexpectedly, one of T'Pol's Vulcan maxims came to mind and Trip closed his eyes in pain. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Hot tears escaped his closed eyes and trickled down his face. He wiped them away before looking up once more.

There really wasn't a choice, after all.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

"Good afternoon, Captain," Ambassador Soval said by way of greeting within seconds of the connection being made, and Jonathan Archer gave him a grim nod. He had no time for pleasantries, no stomach for diplomatic word games, and no patience left. Not with one of his best friends dead and the other dying.

"Ambassador," he replied sharply, his tone eliciting a raised eyebrow. "Commander T'Pol is dead," Jon announced without preamble, knowing that Soval would prefer to avoid unnecessary dissembling himself. The part of Archer that was still bitter toward the Vulcans fully expected that the ambassador would hardly react.

He was wrong.

Soval's expression visibly tightened and the older Vulcan looked away from the screen for a moment. Closing his eyes for extended heartbeat, the ambassador drew in a slow breath before speaking.

"How did she die?" he asked, a tremble in his voice. Instantly, Jon felt ashamed of his earlier thoughts about Soval. Many had been the times that the ambassador had demonstrated his own affection for T'Pol.

"A silicate virus," Archer said in response, once more finding himself on the verge of tears. "Phlox did everything he could but..." Soval nodded as he returned his full attention to the screen but, to Jon's eyes, the ambassador seemed older and more weary. "I'm contacting you because Phlox thought you might be able to help with Commander Tucker?"

"In what way?" the ambassador asked, once more the consummate professional. If there was still a hint of grief in his features, Jon didn't care.

"He's collapsed and Phlox can't wake him up." That had been one of the first things that Archer had noticed when he woke in Sickbay. The absence of pain had been a relief but discovering Trip, wearing most of an EV suit, on the floor and barely breathing had been nearly as hard as finding that T'Pol had passed on.

"I fail to see how I can..." Soval trailed off, frowning abruptly as something clearly occurred to him. "Do you have his neural readings?" he asked and Jon nodded. Within seconds, the data transmission had been completed and Soval's expression became even sadder. "I am sorry, Captain," he said softly, "but there is nothing that I can do."

"You recognize these readings!" Jon declared and the Vulcan nodded.

"They are analogous to readings of a Vulcan mating bond that has been unexpectedly severed by death."

"A mating bond? What the hell is that?" Archer asked in surprise. Soval sighed slightly before responding.

"A telepathic connection that links the two mates," he explained. "This bond is the basis for all Vulcan marriages, and is likely the reason Commander T'Pol's marriage ended as it did."

Anguish stabbed through Jon then, and he felt tears well up within his eyes. This knowledge explained so much, and he felt despair set it. Finally, he understood why Trip had been so distraught when he returned from Vulcan, or why he had begun to withdraw from everyone again. Finally, T'Pol's tangible sadness made sense. It wasn't fair, he thought angrily, and, for a moment, he wanted to scream curses at the universe, or God, or whoever was responsible for this madness.

"What do you do for Vulcans in this condition?" Jon managed to ask, grateful that the ambassador did not comment on Archer's rapidly failing composure.

"Nothing," Soval replied softly and Jon started in surprise. "The severing of a matebond in this fashion is traumatic, even for a trained mind. Approximately one in five Vulcans succumb to this condition and Commander Tucker's mind is simply ill prepared for such a trauma."

"But there has to be something we can do!" Archer flared. The idea of Trip dying such a senseless death was too much and the tears came in steady streams now.

"There is nothing we can do, Captain." Soval's voice was measure and even, but with an undercurrent of shared grief that was unexpected. "The body cannot live without the mind." The Vulcan was silent for a moment. "I grieve with thee," he stated, and Jon closed his eyes against the pain.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Everything was white.

Trip looked around in surprise at his surroundings, squinting against the brightness. It was a brilliant nothingness that stretched on into infinity. Even the floor felt mostly insubstantial, like it wasn't entirely there. For some reason, it actually felt ... familiar.

"Hello, Trip."

The voice startled him and he spun around to face the unexpected but quite welcome face of T'Pol. Without pausing to think, he took three strides toward her and grabbed her in a fierce embrace. It was a gesture that he wouldn't have even considered doing before, but the memory of her bio-readings flatlining still burned a fiery hole in his chest. To his surprise, she reciprocated, bringing her own arms around his body.

"How is this possible?" he asked hoarsely, voice tight from the emotions that he couldn't entirely hold in check. "You were dead..."

"Perhaps I am still dead," T'Pol replied, resting her head against his chest. "And this is the illogical afterlife that you once told me about." Trip chuckled at that, the grief that he had been suffering slowly beginning to lighten.

"Eternity with just you as company?" he teased. "What did I do to earn this?"

"The more accurate question," she asked, "is what did I do to deserve a punishment like this?"

His laughter echoed around them, booming through the emptiness. For a long moment, they simply stood there, holding one another.

"There is an alternate theory," T'Pol finally stated, an unexpected hesitance in her voice.

"What's that?" Trip questioned, looking down to meet her hazel eyes.

"This is an elaborate mental construct fashioned by your dying mind."

"A dream?" he asked and she nodded. "Well, if this is a dream, it's a good dream," Trip declared as he leaned forward and kissed her softly. "I guess we'll know soon," he decided.

A moment later, he had his answer.

END

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

*sniffles* :'(

Very interesting. Very tragic. Dare I say that only you would have the cojones to kill them BOTH? : D

Well, the ending was intentionally left vague so one can insert one's own personal beliefs there ... believe what you want to believe and all that...

Great story, Rigil! I can easily imagine Trip's conversation in Sickbay with Jon the Organian - what a dilemma for poor Trip - ironic that he found his answer in a Vulcanism. Soval's reaction was interesting - both his shock at the news of T'Pol's death and his unexpected insight (and lack of shock) regarding Tucker's ailment. Bummer of a last line, though. It seems somewhat unfinished...

"...A moment later, he had his answer as the surrounding whiteness grew to a blinding incandescence. As their vision cleared, each recognized numerous forms approaching. Their welcoming committee included T'Pol's parents, Lizzie and Charles the Cogenitor...and they endured together happily ever after."

-jwc

Hm... How about this? T'Pol's katra was transferred to her bondmate at the instant of her death. After Trip dies, their joined katras pass into the nearest available receptacle, namely Enterprise itself. Their katras become embedded in the computer very frame and hull of the ship itself, just like the katra of Surak was embedded in the statuette that kept his safe for so many centuries. Just as the katras in the Hall of Ancient Thought are stored on Mount Seleya. Since Enterprise NX-01 is eventually towed back to Earth to become a museum display, their souls endure as part of the ship through the centuries, together forever.

Wooooooooow. Nicely done, Rigil, nicely done. *sniffles* :*)

Ahh, so sad. Definitely pricked tears in my eyes. Good work.

Bnb, you are such a romantic: together forever in a museum. So what happens when someone comes to steal a ship from the museum? Hmm, that has happened. In a Pocket Books novel, I think. Now I have to go read Rigil's story, as was my intention when I came here. I am one of these people who sneak a peek at the ending (or the comments) before reading the story.

That was beautiful. Easily an all time favorite!

I'll try to be be an optimist and decide in my mind that they'll spend all of eternity together.

It would be terrible for someone to have to make such a choice. I don't think I'd have the strength to do what Trip did here.

Very sad, but thought provoking.

Bether6074 said:
"I don't think I'd have the strength to do what Trip did here."

Me neither. I would have said, hell with the federation, I am saving my woman. Let the future make itself. This sucker has abandoned me when I needed him most, threw me to the wolves over the Cogenitor incident, led us into near catastrophe because he put his dog, his other old buddies, his personal ambition, and his guilt ahead of what was best for the people under his command. I should let my woman die because some flake from the 31 st century claims that some vague promise of a future that HE says is gonna be preferable by HIS standards will only come to pass if Archer lives? Screw him. I want my woman. I want pointy eared sons and daughters. I want my hot Vulcan back.

I would have chosen T'Pol too.

Poor Trip. This was an impossible situation for him. I think you've created a very plausible scenario here. Trip would put his personal needs behind those of others. I agree that he would be at risk if the bond was severed suddenly and violently; I doubt that a human would be prepared to deal with such an occurrence.

The last scene was perfect. I'd like to think that Trip and T'Pol could be reunited. Great story!

OMG - it will take me a few days to get over this one! Very nicely written, thank you.

And Trip was killing two people by letting T'Pol die. What was that about the needs of the many? Aren't two more than one? I would have saved T'Pol on the grounds of this logic.

I like your vague ending, it lets our imaginations play. Like what if T'Pol died and Trip didn't? Could he visit the white space again and find her?

Interesting premise - one out of every five Vulcan mates dies when their mate meets a violent end. Good reason for Vulcan passifist philopsphy. Imagine a Vulcan warship with a crew of a thousand being blown up by an enemy - then two hundred people light years away on Vulcan drop dead. Same thing with armies within their own planet. No wonder they listened to Surak.

I believe Trip was thinking that by letting Archer live, eventually the captain would be responsible for saving many more lives than just his and T'Pol's. That was my take on it, anyway. Sad. : (

You are right Bether, the needs of the populations of the Federation are more of a many than two people. I guess I just didn't buy it that Archer was the only person who could draw all those worlds into a federation. It had to be many diplomats from many worlds with their populations ready to accept it. I think Soval was just as important as Archer in that regard. But history can hang on one person...

I never bought that line. The agree with the axiom that people get the government they deserve. The idea that only Archer could bring the future is in line with "only Nixon could have gone to China". Which is pure bull crap. The Andorians who encountered Enterprise and who knew what went on had at least as much respect for the rest of the command crew as they did for Archer. Shran especially was obviously impressed with Trip. And Trip got along great with the Tellurites. He and Soval established a fine working relationship in short order. Trip would have been AT LEast as effective at forging a colaition as Archer. IMO, he alos would have been less likely to let his ego get in the way too.

P.S.

But that is the difference. Trip was inherently a good man, who put the needs of the many ahead of his own desires. Whereas I find myself incapable of believing that Archer, given teh same circumstances, would have made the same choice. He would have chosen the selfish path, I am fairly confident of it. He would have justified it no doubt. Protecting Earth from an interspecies incident by not allowing the Vulcan rep aboard to die, or rationalizing that the ship needed its first officer mor ethan its engineer. But ultimately, Archer was not an inherently good man, and Trip was.

Unsurprisingly (based on my vocal dislike for the Archer character as seen on the screen), I never bought the whole "Archer as Federation Architect" nonsense either since, from what I saw, the man couldn't lead his way out of wet paper bag, but that doesn't mean that Tucker doesn't buy that load of BS. Further, I have to point out that Trip is already suffering from the effects of a severed bond when he makes the decision that he does, so I assumed that he wasn't thinking straight.

Isn't it ironic that those of us who seem to hate Archer the most actually do some of the best writing for him?

I find it odd. Archer oft presented as the great leader seems mostly as a more appropriate representation of the typical common man complete with mutiple flaws, failings, and feet of clay trapped by a perverse destiny in this leadership position for which he has inadequate skills, training, and temperment. Motivated by a deep seated inferiority complex masked by test pilot bravado he tries to live up to the expectations and fails or succeeds partially but his screw ups are not grievous enough to be cause for removal or charges as balanced by the overall result. As is often the case luck is a big factor and sometimes the bold are lucky and get away with stupid things. Sometimes they have their chestnuts pulled from the fire by their crew, sometimes they splatter themselves across the landscape.

Tucker conversely is a noble spirit though totally unaware if this and is more capible than he knows. He represents what most of us wish we were. When tested he rises above his previously perceived limitations. He appeares more flawed than is actually the case. A gregarious nature coupled with a disarming, self efacing manor with the accent are an effective mask of what lies within.

I thoroughly enjoy Rigil's presentation of the Enterprize universe.

HtH

Wish I did. I think his stuff sucks...

:P

Regarding black'n'blue's katras-in-Enterprise's-computer scenario: intriguing, but could you stand a computer that constantly bickers with itself?

It bickers but makes one helluva team when the chips are down, eh?

I realized I never really commented on this.

I like it. I don't really think the Organians would've been so cruel unless it was some kind of test. It was very sad, but good. :)

Does it not depend on how advanced an Organian supposedly is relative to humans of the time. What if the difference is along the lines of human to say an ant. Humans may be fascinated by observing ant's activities and behaviour but do they feel compasion for them? Well maybe not so much if said ants choose to infest their kitchen.

Not picture a youthful Organian, a child if you will, finding some ants. What exactly does this "superior being" do with the magnifying glass on a bright sunny day?

HtH

They were scientists with rules of conduct, not kids with magnifying glasses. A better comparison would be scientists studying wildlife.

The point remains the same.

HtH

I think scientists would have more ethics than kids with magnifying glasses. I imagine most of them do. I sure HOPE most of them do... So I am not sure the point remains the same.

Ever pith any frogs?

HtH

Yep. I always found that pointless as well. Killing an animal to duplicate experimental findings that are well documented facts is a barbaric practice. Not only that, but did you know that once you've clipped the upper jaw off with shears if you don't do an adequate pithing job, the damned things will get up with half their heads gone and try to hop off the table? I had nightmares for weeks!

One of my uncles really did have the traditional old wive's tale happen to him. He went frog gigging one night and bagged several. Took them home, killed and cleaned them, and chowed down on a feast of frog's legs. Walked out for an after dinner smoke and and... well. You can guess the rest. Apparently he didn't quite peck one little head hard enough.

He was quite chagrined. Soft-hearted old fart, in his own way. It was several months before he could eat frog's legs again.

Ooh...poor little froggies. I was conveniently always ill on those dissection days. I had my mother to back me up. Could never see the point of it when I wasn't studying medicine or anything similar. I would've just passed out anyway. Frog legs? Eww. Guess I'm a Northerner through and through. Think I'll stick with veggies.

I thought frog legs was a Frenchie thing. :P

I myself never had to dissect anything, guess the teacher never saw the point when the book already had everythign in it. Never heard the term "pith" before either.

Well, I never pithed any frogs, but a tenth grade biology teacher did once. I disliked it when he stuck that pin in the back of the frog's head and the frog's legs went limp. The students didn't do any pithing and after that demo; I would have refused to do it anyway. While I don't think pithing should be done when you can explain biology without having to demonstrate stuff, I do think scientists in general are ethical and there are laws to protect test subjects - human and animal. Of course every law gets violated, but hopefully not too often. So I still think there is a big difference between a nasty kid with a magnifying glass and trained adult scientists.

A lot of good has come out of science though it has been abominably misused at times. And as far as not killing anything, even if you are a vegetarian, a living thing dies so you can eat and live. Weren't there studies a while back about plants feeling pain, or is that just another urban myth? Probably was, but nevertheless...

I seem to recall experiments showing that plants react to damage in ways that are not completely dissimilar to animal pain. But since they do not have a nervous system as such, it is impossible to say.

Different cultures and populations see things differently. Projecting our personal morality upon another is oft a worthless endeavor if one knows nothing about the individual or the civilization that they developed within. Morality is as transient as the wind. What is abhorant to one may be acceptible or even required for another.

We in the western world eschew eating dog flesh where in parts of the world it is normal.

Most of us in the west are horrified at the thought of killing innocents, yet other cultures do so willingly and eagerly.

I can give other examples if needed. The point is we know little if anything about the personal or societal ethics of the fictional "reasearchers" yet we are all to willing to project our ethics upon them.

The young child may or may not have any concept that burning ants is anything beyond interesting unless someone tells him differently. He may have no concept or right or wrong in the destruction of a living creature that he may have seen destroyed by the hundreds or thousands when they deign to invade his parents kitchen.

HtH

Except that the motives of the Organians was made clear in the episode - observe, evaluate for level of intelligence and report back, all to see if a species was "worthy" of first contact. What was abhorrant was their method, which was to watch an infected planet for aliens to visit and become infected, and then do nothing to help though they had the power. Mostly it was that they purposely watched the planet and put out no warning, specifically because they wanted to see how each crew reacted to their crewmates being infected. Burning ants isn't on the same level because that is actively destroying life, whereas the Organians made a point of being passive observers until the trainee grew a heart and felt sorry for our crew.

Morality as such is actually not a universal constant, rather a construct of ones education and environment during thier formative period.

The child in the given example sees no value the the ants as presented in his sphere of awareness nor any moral conflict in the destruction of same. The only interest is what happens in his chosen experiment of concentrating the light of a local star onto a small point and the reaction of the ant to the stimulus.

The Organians may or may not have intorduced the silicon virus to the planet, It really does not matter to them. Their interest is observing the actions and reactions of , as percieced by them,, lessor life forms in the given situation per their current agenda.

If there is enough difference in the level of development or environment or culture the ethics of one may not apply to another in their perception.

One needs to step out of their own ethical reference to look at another race or culture if one wishes to see them as they see themselves in their own reference structure.

Unfortunately right and wrong are often dynamic given different situations, social structures, and cultural values.

Most agree murder is wrong. What if one life lost saves millions? When one asks if it would have been wrong to murder Hitler, Stalin, or Mao before they were able to execute their respective reigns of terror the question takes more consideration.

A race with apparently incomprehensible to us power including the power of life and death as the Organians were shown may well have a different perspective on the value of a single or small number of lives given some other unpresented agenda or purpose. In the story the fact that they agreed to return both individuals lost in the experiment may or may not have any bearing on their ethics, motivations or values though it may appear

Does the ant perceive their imminent doom? Does the frog understand the need to sacrifice its life so some other being can see first hand what is on his insides? Whould they agree to the experiment if they were consulted? whither they can or not what right does the experimenter have to take a life whether they can return it or not? Is this even an issue they perceive or comprehend much less consider? Do they care? Can they care? Are they self aware? Can they perceive concepts as personal sacrifice for the betterment or even survival of others? Is this of value within their value construct or not? Are the subjects simply rudimentary life forms functioning on instinctual hard wired behaviour? It it simply a conditioned response? Is there a evaluative process and response? Is all life sacred? Is one more valuable than another? Is any life sacred? Why?

If one were of an ancient civilization with the power to shape the development of the universe would they not have the right perhaps even duty by their own ability to determine which new forms are allowed to develop and which are allowed to stagnite or even be weeded out?

Is one considered civilized soley by refusing to take life? At what cost?

sometimes adversity breeds a stronger organism. Some would say it is required for optimal development. What if one commanded such power to never encounter adversity? What then is the point of continued existence?

So we consider it wrong for the Organians to observe our encounter with this fatal virus and simply observe. Who are we and why would it matter what we think about anything much the actions or inactions of another race? If we are so fragile should we not be a bit more cautious and perhaps look more carefully before venturing into the unknown as the Vulcans are constantly telling us in this particular Trek universe.

HtH